Shazam Launches New Sales Platform for TV Networks

Shazam, the popular song-recognition app, is making a big push to help TV networks and advertisers connect with consumers on their “second screens” — smartphones and tablets.

The company is launching a new sales platform called Resonate, which it says will help TV networks better monetize the viewers who use their mobile devices while they’re watching TV. Shazam said the new platform, which was beta tested during the Billboard Music Awards with Dick Clark Productions and Chevrolet, gives TV network partners more control over the messaging and content that’s delivered when a user ‘Shazams’ what’s on TV.

Nearly 100 million people use the Shazam app each month to identify a song that is playing in the background — on the radio, in a store or at a bar, for example. For TV networks and brands, the app can be integrated into TV shows and ads to deliver users special offers or exclusive content about what they’re watching. Users, for example, “Shazamed” more than 1.1 million times during the Grammy Awards and more than 700,000 times during the Super Bowl this year. (To put that into context, more than 28 million viewers tuned in for the Grammys and more than 100 million for the Super Bowl.)

The new offering comes as Shazam has been increasing its focus on its platform business, which includes partnerships with TV companies, a business that Chief Executive Rich Riley said is “meaningful” for Shazam. He declined to specify what percentage of the company’s revenue is generated through the platform business. National CineMedia, the largest cinema advertising company, in May said it would be integrating Shazam into its big-screen ads.

“A lot of our partners are realizing that to drive high engagement you have to partner with a platform that already has a strong presence on mobile,” Mr. Riley said.

According to a Nielsen study released Tuesday that analyzed 25 TV ads with a Shazam “call to action”– such as a logo prompting users to Shazam that TV moment– versus other ads from the same brand, ad recall was 6% higher for ads integrating Shazam. Those ads also had higher brand and message recall as well as likeability.

Reaching consumers on their “second screens” may represent an attractive marketing opportunity for advertisers looking to enhance the effectiveness of their TV commercials. According to a February report from Nielsen, 84% of smartphone and tablet owners said they use those devices while watching TV.

“We see a lot of demand coming out of marketplace for more innovative mobile and data-driven opportunities,” said Shazam’s Chief Revenue Officer Kevin McGurn.

Shazam, which has been a part of 450 ad campaigns, can help brands connect with TV viewers via their mobile phone and retarget that user through Shazam’s mobile app or Facebook.

“The analytics of the mobile phone affords us are very deep and interesting insights that we can pass through to networks who can pass through to advertisers,” Mr. McGurn noted.

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